By Jim Blanks

When a disaster occurs on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, the need for volunteers is enormous. But what happens when volunteers overwhelm the system, stretching the coordination of the goodwill effort to the breaking point? According to Cyndie Coverston of the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency, after the Hurricane Katrina disaster, there were so many volunteers that many had to be turned away, despite the masses of people in need of help.

“Everyone wanted to volunteer after the (Hurricane Katrina) disaster, but there was no prequalification of people,” Coverston says. “So if a healthcare provider showed up, stated they were a physician and wanted to volunteer, there was no way to validate their credentials quickly.”

“People were frustrated, there was a bottleneck of volunteers they couldn’t use for liability issues, and then you had additional people hanging around doing nothing, causing more issues than you had before,” Coverston said.

The faulty system needed to change.

Now, a registry has been created to prevent volunteer bottlenecks in future disasters. The California Disaster Healthcare Volunteer Registry allows healthcare volunteers to provide their credential information before a disaster strikes so they’ll have a more direct route to help out in an emergency. Medical professionals go to the online registry and provide their license numbers, DEA numbers, and contact information. Once medical professionals sign up, their records will be kept on file and updated as needed.

“The licensing boards are searched daily to maintain that each license is active and in good standing,” Coverston says. Because of this new system, emergency officials will now know how many volunteers they have, and who can provide specific medical assistance.

Building this registry is important, Coverston says; the need for medical volunteers is great—even in Tulare County. Nobody knows when or where the next disaster may strike.

“Our greatest threats right now for Tulare County are probably a pandemic influenza outbreak or some agricultural terrorist attack,” Coverston says. Should a disaster such as a flu outbreak affect Tulare County, there will be a great need for medical assistance.

Once volunteers sign up, they are placed in a database; during a disaster, state or local officials determine what type of professionals are needed and send an alert to volunteers via email or telephone. When volunteers sign up, they can choose to be alerted for only Tulare County emergencies, or they can choose state or national notification.
Coverston stresses, however, that there is no obligation to volunteer simply because you have signed up on the registry.

“You may turn down the notice if you have other commitments,” Coverston says, “such as your own family or office to care for during an emergency.”

Coverston says that if somebody wants to volunteer, it is essential that they sign up first, so that crucial time isn’t wasted checking credentials during an emergency.

Non-Medical Volunteers
Although the registry site is primarily used for healthcare professionals, there is also a section for non-medical volunteers. Currently, Tulare County is recruiting both medical and non-medical volunteers because, as Coverston explains, in an emergency situation any type of help is needed.

“When public health is threatened and the hospitals can no longer accommodate the mass influx of patients, an alternate care site will be established by the county.”

This alternate care site, or ACS, will act as a temporary hospital so that more patients can be treated in a healthy environment. But constructing an ACS is not easy. “That is where the registry will come into great use,” Coverston says. “We are going to need everyone and quickly.”

So far, the response to the registry has been positive. Although the registry started just four months ago, there are already twenty registered volunteers, and Coverston expects more to join. Once the number of volunteers grows, Coverston says, Tulare County will provide training.

“We are coordinating with local fire and police departments, as well as other community organizations, to provide pre-disaster preparedness training,” Coverston says. There will also be opportunities for volunteers to practice “working in shelters/ACS and other places where volunteers are needed.”

Tulare County is also required to provide drills and exercises, including a mass vaccination drive in October, and Coverston encourages registered volunteers to attend these sessions.

There will also be exercises in which volunteers will practice setting up a working ACS, which, Coverston admits, will be a “huge undertaking.” Volunteers are under no obligation to attend any training session, but Coverston says it will help prepare them for an actual disaster.

Right now, Coverston is working on getting the word out about the California Disaster Healthcare Volunteer Registry. Informational flyers and pamphlets have been sent out to RNs, LVNs, physicians, pharmacists, and dentists throughout Tulare County, encouraging them to provide their credentials for the registry. So far, it seems to be working.

Coverston knows there are many people in Tulare County willing to lend their services during an emergency, which makes her work so important. Without a method for checking medical credentials, emergency officials will have no choice but to turn away qualified volunteers even as disaster victims demand medical attention. The registry effectively eliminates this problem, allowing medical professionals and other volunteers to focus on what truly matters: helping people in need.

“Participation and support is vital to the success of any public health emergency response in Tulare County,” Coverston says.

During an emergency, successful response is essential; and with a working registry now in place, a successful response can be made possible.

(The statewide registry can be found at www.healthcarevolunteers.ca.gov.)

Infobox:

Be Prepared to Help:
• Medical and non-medical volunteers can register before disaster strikes at HYPERLINK “http://www.healthcarevolunteers.ca.gov” www.healthcarevolunteers.ca.gov
• Registered volunteers will be contacted in an emergency, and will be directed to the areas where they can help most.
• Volunteers are not obligated to respond. If your family or practice needs your attention, you can keep your focus there.

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